quasi wrote:> > Frederick Williams wrote:> >quasi wrote:> >>> >> Yes, but the best teachers and authors have mastered the art of> >> judging how their presentation would be seen from the point of> >> view of the prospective student.> >> >While the lecturer knows to whom he is lecturing, the author of a> >book doesn't necessarily know who will read it.> > But an author should always have an assumed target audience in> mind.

Indeed so, but does he who takes the book down from the shelf knowwhether or not he is... um... targeted? I assume that he who walks intothe lecture theatre knows whether a first year or graduate level lectureis going to be delivered. Since Paul Epstein tells me I've got it thewrong way round, I'll withdraw my remark anyway. Others will knowbetter than I.

(Just a minute though: "exactly the wrong way round." So I shall awardmyself one mark out of ten for exactitude.:-)

-- When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.Jonathan Swift: Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting